According to a caution statement which police say Travis McDougall gave to them, it was the now deceased Jermaine Otto who had shot and killed businessman Ashok Raghoo and wounded the man’s wife in the process.
Detective Michael Kingston, who took the statement, said McDougall told him it seemed that he “alone was going down fuh the murder,” and as a result he wanted police to know what really happened.
Arguing that McDougall never voluntarily gave the statement, defence attorney Nigel Hughes told the court that the police obtained the statement only after shocking his client’s genitals with a Taser.
Kingston, however, vehemently denied ever using any form of force on the accused.
He maintained that McDougall had freely and voluntarily given the statement.
The court heard from the statement, which was admitted into evidence, of McDougall telling police that on the day in question, Otto, called “Fungus,” whom he knew from school, asked to be dropped off in Kitty.
According to the statement, McDougall said that since he had a motorcycle licence, he decided to transport his friend to Kitty. However, at the traffic light at the intersection of Regent Street and Vlissengen Road, McDougall reportedly said, Otto, who was the pillion rider, jumped off the cycle and darted to a burgundy car.
Thereafter, the court heard from the statement, McDougall said that he heard shots, followed by “Fungus” running back to the motorcycle with a black bag and shouting, “Leh we guh! Leh we guh!”
The statement quoted the accused as telling police that later that night he heard that the driver of the car had died.
McDougall was initially charged with the capital offence alongside Otto, who was among the 17 prisoners who died in the Camp Street Prison fire last year.
The allegation against Mc Dougall is that on August 18, 2014, he murdered the businessman during an alleged robbery on Vlissengen Road.
In her opening address to the jury at the commencement of the trial, Prosecutor Tuanna Hardy had said that Raghoo and his wife had left their home to transact business in the city. She said they were driving along Vlissengen Road and had stopped at the intersection with Regent Street at the traffic light, when they were both shot and relieved of their belongings.
They were rushed to the hospital, where Raghoo succumbed to his injuries.
Police say the couple was robbed of a firearm, a quantity of cash and cellphones, all totaling $4M in total value.
The trial continues this morning before Justice Navindra Singh and a jury at the High Court in Georgetown.
